Artur Sargsyan keeps refusing medical assistance
On March 3, representatives of the Armenian Ombudsman’s Office again visited Artur Sargsyan who has entered the 22nd day of his hunger strike at the Hospital of Convicts. They group was accompanied by a physician. They examined Sargsyan, studied the medical records and conditions of detention. Artur Sargsyan continues to refuse medical assistance and offers to transfer him to a civilian hospital. He is placed under round-the-clock medical supervision. Representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office will continue their daily visits to penitentiary institution at the weekend to monitor Sargsyan’s health. Artur Sargsyan drove his car through a police cordon on July 26 to take food to the members of the Sasna Dzrer group who remained barricaded in a police station they had seized two weeks ago. Sargsyan was arrested last August for assisting the gunmen, He was released on his own recognizance in December. Sargsyan was re-arrested on February 9, allegedly for not showing up after being summoned to a case hearing. He went on hunger strike the next day after a Yerevan court denied his motion to release him from pre-trial detention on his own recognizance.
